merced's pickin chicken dies...

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/sports/columnists/story/13858435p-14429883c.html

the paper had a chicken who pecked pieces of paper to predict winners of high school, college and pro football games. apparently, it was very successful and even beat the staff members regularly.

the chicken also wrote his own columns where he said things like: "Look, cuz. Never mind picking winners of football games. These bozos here couldn't pick their mothers out of a band of gypsies." and "Did ya notice that I got all five of the high school games right last week? Yep, I'm startin' to settle into stride. Time to start bein' afraid, yokels."

the stuff was all tongue in cheek. but word is it was pretty popular. should more papers do stuff like this?

 

Couldn't hurt. Everyone loves animals. I hope they sent the chicken off in a fitting way, i.e. the dinner plate of the second-place finisher. I also hope they don't have front pages as artless as the today's very often.

 

The chicken actually signed a deal with Yahoo! The paper was too embarassed to admit it.

 

Actually, I heard the Chicken was hired by ESPN to write for Page 2...

 

Good riddance. That chicken was a pecker.

 

I think it's pretty cheap and gimmicky, but I guess newspapers will do anything to get a little bit more attention.

 

I heard they fired him because he ruffled too many feathers.

That goose egg he laid in the final week was the last straw.

 

I didn't know the chicken, but I heard his father was a real cock.

 

Like everyone else on the staff, she got paid chicken scratch.

 

This seems as good a place as any to ask how other papers do picks. I don't want to start a separate thread, because I wouldn't want my boss to see it, because ...

We waste half a page each week with staff picks -- 16 people (including copy desk) picking the same 25 games. Straight up. Not against the spread. Yes, I said 16 people. Sixteen.

We run mugs, picks and our standings. And I hate it. And I can't imagine there are many readers who need to know how all 16 of us pick this week's mid-major yawner. We didn't do them last year because we were in the middle of a redesign and couldn't make it work. Word is the boss is bringing them back this year. When I say I spend 45-50 hours a week focusing on one game and have little time to devote to how I think 24 other games might go, the response I get is "It should only take you about a minute or two."

I ask: Should we devote half a page to something that takes us only a minute or two of effort? Would we do that with anything else in our section?

 

Picks are no fun unless you do it against the spread. A preps editor I used to work with used to set lines on HS football games so his staff could make picks. It was great, but some whiny douche called in and said it promoted gambling so not only did he have to stop doing it, but it changed our college and pro picks...

 

Depends on the market. I did it once in the stone ages, ignored it for years and was reintroduced to it at a big, football-loving stop. No spreads on prep games, though. But 16 seems a waste of time and space.